Calling all Public Sector Marketers… If you are not using social media marketing strategies you are seriously out of date

A recent article in ADAge should open the eyes of those of you have not moved into the social media area

Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson has seen the future, and it’s in “earned,” not paid, media, which has big implications for marketers, agencies and, of course, the media itself.

“There are still a lot of marketers out there buying their media when they could earn it, and earn it a lot less expensively. “

While overall spending on marketing may go up, traditional-media outlays are declining, and spending is growing on the creative and technology necessary to implement social campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

As a venture capitalist, Mr. Wilson said,” he’s funding companies that address the new marketing paradigm, from earned-media platforms such as Twitter and social video site Boxee to next-generation ad agencies such as Federated Media and Clickable, and from analytics firms such as ComScore and Quantcast to tech platforms such as FeedBurner and Dave Morgan’s Simulmedia. “

“The challenge for marketers then, is to engage with social media in an authentic way, and know they are going to be punished by its denizens for any perceived spam. “

Once a niche phenomenon, social media has achieved mass, network-TV-like scale. Mr. Wilson predicted Twitter could reach 50 million users, or one quarter the size of Facebook today, by the end of 2009.

We have always known that earned media is the key to success in public sector campaigns but the paradigm is changing radically. No longer can marketers depend on old style public relations/communications campaigns. The new and improved strategy is social media.

Those who work in social marketing or involved in government, non profit and association marketing need to “get with the program”

As someone who has been in the marketing game especially public sector /non profit for many years , I have seen a heck of a lot of change in marketing and communications trends but never I have witnessed such a major shift as social media marketing .

If you are wondering how to get in the game go to my colleague Mike Kujawski’s blog www.mikekujawski.ca. or better still come to his workshop at MARCOM Social Media Marketing 101 on June 2 2009 in Toronto. For more info go to www.marcom.ca

For those who want to sharpen their skills in social marketing come to my session at MARCOM How to Create a Customized Social Marketing Action Plan on June 2nd in Toronto.During this tough economic period it is time to get serious about developing social marketing programs that do not just increase awareness and educate but actually change attitudes and behaviour.This unique workshop takes you through a proven process for developing and implementing a successful social marketing plan. The Course Workbook guides you through the process for creating your own Customized Social Marketing Action Plan. This workshop has been designed not only for marketing and communications professionals who specialize in social marketing, but for anyone involved in the planning of marketing, outreach and public education strategies aimed at changing attitudes and behaviours.By attending this workshop, you will save countless hours of planning time and learn proven techniques for launching a successful social marketing initiative.

You will learn how to:

Implement a social marketing program on a very limited budget;

Develop a step-by-step structured approach that makes preparing a social marketing plan a breeze;

Differentiate social marketing from public education, outreach and other communication strategies;

Use social marketing to give you a single approach for mobilizing communities, influencing the media, lobbying/advocacy, building strategic alliances with business.

Also I will be moderating a panel that will feature two practical case studies in the area of social marketing ” moving from campaign research to strategic implementation – everything you need to know. ” Joining me will be executive directors Bob Oliver of Pollution Probe and Brian Shifman from the City of North Toronto, Vaughan on the morning of June 4th at MARCOM 2009